Firefall Timeline 2229.6

Entry 2229.6 - "Dr. Mitra Batsheba"

The following is an excerpt from the Cambridge Journal, a magazine directed towards the alumni and major donators of the University of Cambridge. To this day it remains an impressive biographical piece on Doctor Mitra Batsheba, one of the most influential minds in history.

-Aris Holden - Historian

Mitra's mother, Zahra Batsheba, was a well established biochemist and her father, Hadi Batsheba, a tenured theoretical mathematician teaching at the University of Rasht, in what was once Iran. With a strong influence in science, Mitra found herself under constant instruction. This, in combination with her natural genius, helped propel her to a life of unrivaled academic success.

Mitra left her homeland to attend school at Stanford University where, with a full ride academic scholarship at the young age of only sixteen, she double majored in applied physics and chemistry. Mitra explained, "It was important for my parents that I experience the world to avoid the 'New Persian propaganda', as they call it. I was lucky enough to get accepted to Stanford."

From there she pursued a master's degree in quantum physics from Australian National University where she also interned for Omnidyne Corporation. Upon graduation, Mitra Batsheba was hired on full time by Omnidyne Corporation as an associate researcher while she began work on her doctorate in theoretical physics here at the University of Cambridge.

Mitra offered a few insights to her work at Omnidyne Corporation while studying at Cambridge, "During my time at Cambridge, I was fortunate enough to work on many projects for Omnidyne, including the in-depth study on the properties of crystite exhaust. It was quite fascinating. The exhaust would, under the right circumstances, absorb and transform microscopic levels of carbon. I came to call the process 'melding' in my notes."

The term melding has since become widely used amongst the scientific community to describe crystite exhaust. Though Batsheba was only able to make minimal headway on understanding melding, her work did gain the attention and respect of Omnidyne executives.

Batsheba's most well known accomplishment came with the proving of her own doctorate thesis. Titled "Precision Arcfolding", Mitra Batsheba's thesis proclaimed that if given enough concentrated energy, arcfolding could act as a viable and practical form of long distance travel.

Arcfolding is a means of using high levels of energy to fold time and space in on itself, effectively creating a wormhole capable of transporting matter large distances in a matter of seconds. Early forms of arcfolding required massive amounts of energy to transport relatively small objects only a few kilometers away. As the technology was further developed, arcfolding could be accomplished with larger, more complex materials and sent farther distances. However, it quickly reached a technological plateau, becoming notoriously unreliable in its accuracy.

Further discounting it as a viable form of long distance travel was, as coined by the famed 22nd century theoretical physicist Kenneth Spig, the jaunt. The jaunt is the actual journey through arcfolded space, where matter becomes exposed to an "absolute void between points". As a result of this exposure, matter will arrive at its destination with a surface temperature near that of absolute zero. This prevented the transfer of many objects, specifically those that were water based, volatile, inherently brittle or organic.

"I was never a fan of anyone telling me that something was impossible", Mitra said. "With the help of the Cambridge science lab and Omnidyne, I was able to create a shield of energy that protects organic matter from the void. Our first successful test involved arcfolding a living mouse from Cambridge to San Francisco with only a location deviation of 0.2 millimeters."

When news of this breakthrough hit the scientific community, Doctor Batsheba was immediately promoted to lead science officer, her current position, on the development and build-out of the Arclight, Omnidyne's long abandoned concept for a starship capable of faster than light travel.